‘Autonomous Driving’ is a big deal with new vehicles under development and Nissan showed at the Tokyo Show it is on the front foot with the unveiling of the IDS Concept.
This is Nissan’s vision for autonomous driving and electric vehicles (EVs) for the future.
In fact Nissan pointedly said in Tokyo that it is on-track to achieve its goal of equipping autonomous drive technology (the car drives itself) on multiple vehicles by 2020.
“Nissan Intelligent Driving improves a driver’s ability to see, think and react. It compensates for human error, which causes more than 90 per-cent of all car accidents. As a result, time spent behind the wheel is safer, cleaner, more efficient and more fun,” revealed Nissan president Carlos Ghosn.
So the Nissan IDS offers ‘Manual Drive’ mode where it behaves just like a normal car (but with sensors monitoring things continually and will provide assistance in taking evasive action when needed) or ‘Piloted Drive’ which delivers a style which imitates the driver’s responses in manual (so it’s far from the automated ‘conveyor belt’ scenario critics of automated driving promote.
Inside the spacious four-seat hatchback when ‘Piloted Drive’ is selected the steering wheel retracts and is replaced by a large flat screen which responds to gestures to operate most functions. In this mode you can even swivel the front seats.
But in ‘Manual Drive’ all four seats face forward, the steering wheel is engaged and the flat screen is replaced by conventional gauges and instruments.
Nissan says it is also well-advanced with electric motors, batteries and inverters suitable for mass-production of electric vehicles – the IDS Concept uses a high-capacity 60 kWh hour battery which combines with the vehicles light weight and impressive aerodynamics to deliver an enhanced cruising range.
